The present invention relates generally to configuration and commissioning of an array of networked devices, and more specifically, but not exclusively, to configuration and set up of a lighting control system.
It is common to have an installation of an array of networked devices that offer a physical impediment or other constraint to a technician desiring to physically access individual ones of these devices. Lights of a lighting installation controlled by a lighting control system are representative of this scenario. The lighting installation includes many lighting fixtures that appear exactly the same, and they are often installed in multiple locations, each location requiring a ladder or the like to access.
A problem is that many commissioning procedures require that the technician physically access each device to verify its location and connection to the control system. In some cases, the device is preconfigured (by the manufacturer and/or by the technician prior to installation) with an address, and that address is mapped to a physical location, with the nominal physical address and address entered into the control system. However, it is easy to misconfigure the address and/or install the device at an incorrect location. Configuration and setup can thereafter be difficult, especially attempts to identify and correct the misconfiguration. The constraint interferes and delays the efforts to identify and correct the misconfiguration.
In other cases, each device has a configuration mode that may be actuated manually by physically accessing the device. The constraint interferes and delays the physical access to each device, and thereby interferes and delays the entire configuration and setup of the entire system.
In still other cases, the technician has a control device that causes the controller to sequentially and slowly step through all available addresses until a specific individual device is identified. Different types of devices reveal their specific actuation differently. With a lighting system, the specific addresses lighting fixture is able to dim the light level up and down and/or flash the light in a particular pattern.
For all these cases, the identification process in which the technician confirms that she is configuring the correct device, the procedure easily becomes very time consuming as the size of the installation increases. What is needed is a system and method for identification of a particular one device from an array of networked devices.